Badge of Honor
by mabelreid
Summary: One Shot Eighteen year old Lucy is getting ready to go away to college when she finds Lindsey's medal hidden away in the attic.  Now it's time for Lindsey to tell the story to her daugther


Disclaimer: see my profile

A/n This takes place seventeen years after the events of "The 34th Floor" Please enjoy.

Badge of Honor

"Mom! I can't find it."

"Why don't you check in the boxes against the wall?"

She crossed the attic to five boxes stacked against the north wall, ducking her head under the steeply pitched roof. She sneezed at the dust and wiped sweat from her forehead.

"Which one Mom!" She shouted through the trap door.

"The one marked Montana." Lindsey shouted back. "I'll be up in a minute."

Lucy pulled the box from the stack, heaving it down to the wooden floor. She sneezed again as another puff of dust raised when she set down the box. It wasn't taped like the other boxes, just shut with the corners tucked inside. She pulled it open and began lifting out some of her mother's old clothing and some keepsakes. She carefully removed an old pair of pajamas, pink and white pajamas that Lucy had never seen. Something metal fell out of the folds as she moved them, and clunked on the floor.

She picked it up to see a gold medal shaped like a cross on a green ribbon. It had her mother's name engraved on the back with a date from seventeen years ago.

"Mom…"

"I'm coming."

Lindsey popped her head up through the trapdoor. Her hair, though graying slightly, retained its light brown color with some blond streaks. She smiled as she climbed up into the attic, her face creased around the mouth. The smile fled when she saw what her grown daughter held in her hand.

"What's this mom?"

Lindsey joined Lucy near the box, moving slowly as though reluctant to cross the distance.

"It called the Combat Cross."

"It's your's," Lucy stated, looking at the name and date again.

"Yes… You were just over a year old when the NYPD awarded that to me for heroism."

"Really…" Lucy's eyes crinkled up in a smile. Her dark eyes, her mother's eyes, sparkled with pride. "What did you do?"

Lindsey fingered the medal. "I didn't do anything worthy of this."

Lucy pursed her lips at her mother's rejection of the medal. "You must have done something special. They don't give out stuff like this for nothing."

"Lucy, you're only eighteen. You don't understand the world."

Lucy dropped the pajamas back into the box. "Mom… I'm not a kid any more. I'm going to college in two weeks."

Lindsey took the medal from her daughter's hand. "There's something that happened to you when you were just a baby."

Lucy swiped back her dark blond hair as sweat trickled down her face. "I don't understand."

"Come down stairs with me. It's too hot to talk up here."

CMCMCMCMCM

Lindsey made two glasses of ice tea with lemon and mint, cleaned the counter, straightened the plant on the shelf over the sink and adjusted the blinds.

"Mom… Why are you so freaked out?"

"It's not easy to tell you this. Even after seventeen years it haunts me."

Lucy took her glass of iced tea around the island counter to one of the barstools. "Mom, I thought you said we could always tell each other anything."

Lindsey stared at the toaster as though she expected a couple of slices of bread to come popping up. "Okay… You remember the story of how your father and I met."

Lucy grinned; a smile so much like Danny's that Lindsey's eyes stung with tears. "Yeah, it's my favorite story, especially Daddy's version."

"You father enjoys exaggeration."

"True, but you gotta admit his version is interesting."

"And mine's not," Lindsey asked indignantly.

"Okay… It's on the edge of your seat fun. Are you going to tell me about this medal or not."

Lindsay had laid it on the dark grey marble counter top. It just sat there like an accusation.

"Well during the time I had to testify at Daniel Cadences trial, a serial killer struck New York City. His name was Shane Casey. His brother was convicted of murdering a bar tender. Shane thought he was innocent and when his brother committed suicide in prison, he snapped. He started killing people involved with his brother's trial. Your dad and your uncle Flack took him down."

Lucy grinned. "Good for Daddy."

"Well, you know about your Uncle Louie and your dad."

Lucy nodded as she took a long sip of her tea. "I know they never got along, but that Uncle Louie took a bad beating for him so that Uncle Mac could arrest some mob guy."

"Yes, well he told Shane as they were taking him to jail that he understood how he felt about his brother. He rather sympathized with Casey. Anyway, Casey escaped and tried to set up Uncle Sheldon for murder. He told Mac that he'd give up the evidence that would clear your Uncle Sheldon if your dad helped him. He asked for you father to come alone to the bar where his brother committed his crime and prove that his brother was innocent."

"What did daddy do?" Lucy's eyes were huge as she took another sip of her tea.

"He went in alone. I was so scared even though I knew he could take care of himself." She took a couple of bracing breaths then went on. "Your dad told Casey about the evidence we had against his brother. Shane Casey freaked out. We arrested him again and I thought that was the end of it until he escaped again a couple years later."

"Wow…" Lucy said, forgetting about her tea. "What happened then?"

"He escaped while your Uncle Sheldon was at the prison to witness an execution. There was a riot and it was touch and go for Sheldon, but he was okay. Casey managed to steal your dad's badge and his debit card when your Dad was in physical therapy after getting shot."

"Oh yeah… I remember him talking about that and how Uncle Sheldon kicked his butt back into gear."

Lindsey laughed. "Your dad's pretty stubborn."

"You think?" Lucy joked.

"It's part of his charm." Lindsey admitted.

"So what happened next?"

"Your Uncle Flack finally arrested him again and he escaped again after killing his guard."

"Really?"

Lindsey was coming to the part of the story she didn't want to relive, but there was no other way. It was time for Lucy to hear about it as she and Danny had promised each other so long ago.

"Your father and I had plans to go on vacation. We heard about the escape the day we planned to leave. We decided to go anyway and let Uncle Mac and Aunt Stella handle it. We had such a great day at the beach. We decided to go up to the lighthouse, but when we got to the top, Shane Casey was waiting for us."

Lucy's full attention was on her mother and her eyes were huge. She'd completely forgotten about her glass of tea.

"I was so scared when your dad gave you to me and said for us to leave. I didn't want to go, but I had to protect you. They fought and Casey fell off the lighthouse. I was so happy because I thought he was finally dead."

"You thought," Lucy asked.

"Yes… We went home and to bed. You woke up your father first and he left to go get you. I woke up afterward and heard you crying and your father talking to Casey."

"He got in our house." Lucy squeaked.

"It was the old apartment in Manhattan." Lindsey said. "I've never been more scared than I was hearing his voice in your baby monitor. I grabbed my gun and went to your room. He had you in his arms."

Lindsey stopped and stared into space with a faraway look on her face as though she was reliving the entire thing again in that sunny kitchen.

"Mom?"

Lindsey blinked and smiled at her daughter. "I'm sorry…"

"It's okay mom."

Lucy reached out and grabbed her mother's hand. "What happened next?"

"I was pointing my gun at him and he had you in his arms. I couldn't believe that bastard was touching you. I tried not to freak out, but I was so scared for you. He had a gun on you. Your father convinced me to lower my gun while he tried to reason with Casey. I could see that it wasn't going to work. You were so frightened. You were crying and he had his hands on you. I shot him in the chest. He fell and your dad grabbed you. I killed him."

Lucy gripped her hands even tighter. "Mom… You're white as a sheet."

Lindsay picked up her tea and downed it quickly. "I'm not sorry I did it."

"You got no reason at be." Danny said, coming into the kitchen. "I heard ya talkin'." He explained.

He'd been in the back yard working on Lindsey's garden, getting rid of some of the weeds. He went to the sink to wash his dirt-crusted hands. "You mother's my hero. She saved all of our lives, especially you."

He carried the towel around to where Lucy stood and hugged her. His blue eyes twinkled as he surveyed his women.

"I never felt like a hero." Lindsey argued. "I just did what I had to do. I couldn't lose either of you."

"Wow…" Lucy said again. "That's something I'm glad I don't remember."

She suddenly broke away from her dad and hugged her mother hard. "Thanks mom."

"I don't deserve thanks." Lindsey said.

"Yes you do, and you should have this out where everyone can see it." Lucy argued. "I'm going to get a frame for it before I leave for college."

"I don't need to have that out on display."

"Don't argue with Lucy baby." Danny said proudly. "She's as stubborn as you."

Lindsey straightened up to her full height. "I beg your pardon. I think it's your stubborn head she got."

"Guys…" Lucy almost stepped between them.

Danny flashed her a wide grin. "Your daughter is right. We get a frame for this. It's been in hiding long enough."

"Go ahead and gang up on me."

Danny put one arm around Lucy and the other around his wife. "We're not ganging up on you. Just think of it was strategic cooperation."

Lindsey began to laugh. "Okay, get the damn thing framed."

She turned to Lucy. "I'm going to miss you around here."

"I love you too mom."

"And I love ya too." Danny said squeezing their shoulders.

"Does that mean I can go to the movies with Sonny?" Lucy asked eagerly.

"Not in this lifetime." Danny declared.


End file.
